Title

How does acidity effect the growth of Rye Grass?

Problem Scenario

I got this idea from thinking about Acid Rain and how it affects the plant life from growing. When you are looking outside after a rain storm the plant life doesn't look the same. Is it from the acid? That is exactly what i am trying to find out.

Broad Question:

How does acidity affect plant growth?

Specific Question

How does Lemon Juice affect the growth of Rye Grass?

Hypothesis

I think that the plants with less acid are going to grow faster then the ones with more Acid.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Plant Growth

Dependent Variable:

Acid

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Rye Grass seeds

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Acidity- Acid

---

---

---

---

General Plan

I Am putting a 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and 2 cups of lemon juice in a carton of water one will also have no lemon juice in it. Then I am watering a cup of soil with 4 Rye Grass Seeds in it, then at the end of my experiment i will measure the height of the plant and see how the acid affected it.

Potential Problems And Solutions

My Plants could have dried out and died.
To fix that i could water them or replant them.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

Their are no Safety of Environmental concerns.

Experimental Design

(add the correct headings from the experimental design page before beginning)

Controlled, manipulated experiment

Number Of Trials:

4

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

16

When data will be collected

My data will be collected at the end of my experiment

Number of Observations:

1

Where will data be collected?:

My data will be collected in my science notebook.

Resources and Budget Table

Item	Where I will Get This	Cost
Soil	Walmart	$5.00
Poster Board	Staples	$5.00
Seeds	Mr.Biche	Free
Lemon Juice	Hannafords	$3.00
Cups	Mr.Biche	Free
Sharpie	Mr.Biche	Free

---

---

---

---

Background Research

You can test how much Acid is in the water with PH testing strips. Acid is also whats in rain which is why rain is sometimes called Acid Rain. You can put certain things in water to make it Acidic like lemon juice or lime juice.

Acid Rain is something that possesses elevated levels of Hydrogen Ions. Acid Rain is bad for plants, Aquatic animals, and Infrastructure. Acid Rain is made by Emissions of Carbon Man oxide, Sulfur Dioxide, and Nitrogen Oxides. Which have a reaction when meeting with the Molecules in the water to produce Acids. People have tried reducing the release of Sulfur Dioxide into the air since the 1970's.

Lightning strikes also Produce Nitrogen Oxides. Acid rain is very dangerous in different ways. It can cause paint to peel, failing of steel structures as in bridges, and erosion of stone Statues, it can also cause many other dangerous things to.

What Is Acidic Rain?Acidic Rain is Acid deposition from the Atmosphere to the Earths Surface. Acid Deposition has altered soils in places of the North east. Acid Rain has been having a big affect on trees like the Red Spruce Tree and the Sugar Maple Tree. Acid Rain is causing these different plants to die. Acid Rain is the highest reason why different plants are dying.

Acid Rain is really caused from chemicals that spread from Human Resources such as Electricity Generation,Factories, and Motor Vehicles. Coal Power Plants are one of the most polluting things out their. Their has also been a lot of Ecological Damage from these factories because they have tall funnels that let smoke out, but they used to have smaller funnels along time ago but now they are bigger because it was causing damage but they are still causing damage now that they are larger.

References

P AGE 2 / Acid Rain Revisited The Hubbard Brook Research Foundation (HBRF) is a non-profit501(c)(3) charitable organization established in 1993.

"Acid Rain." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain>.

Detailed Procedure

What I did was I Put 1 cup of soil in each of my 4 cups. I watered Each of my cups for about a week with different amounts of lemon juice and 1 of my cups Had just water and no lemon juice.

Diagram

---

---

---

---

---

Results

My Result is that the plants with lemon juice grow better then the plants without lemon juice.

All Raw Data

Graphs

Photos

My two tallest Plans

My Cups Of Plants watered with lemon juice and Water

---

---

---

---

---

Data Analysis

My graph shows that plants with more Acid Grow better then plants with less Acid.

Conclusion

My Hypothesis was that the plants with less acid were growing to go better but it ended up being that the plants with more acid grew better.

Discussion
My Plants died as a result of dehydration from not being watered for three days over the weekend. I could have just watered my plants on Friday so they would make it over the weekend but i didn't. I had to start my project again by replanting Rye grass seeds into plastic cups. This information would be helpful if you needed to grow plants fast.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

A new trick is to water your plants with lemon juice to let them grow better.

Abstract

My Experiment in my opinion was a good one.When i started it i ended up killing my plants because I didn't have time to water them over the weekend. I Started with my hypothesis which ended up not being true.I thought that the plants with less acid were going to grow faster and better but it ended up being that the plants with more acid grew better. It was funny because the cup that was watered with one cup of acid mixed with water never grew at all. I had to look in the cup and make sure that their was seeds in the cup and their was. I just kept watering the cup and it never grew something must have happened to it, maybe a bug got in it and ruined it. I am surprised with the conclusion of my experiment.